DAY OF PRAYER

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 56, 4 September 1939, Page 12

DAY OF PRAYER

?IXED FOR NEXT SUNDAY

ANGLICAN CHURCH

VICAR-GENERAL'S

CALL

The, Vicar-General of the Diocese of Wellington, the Yen. Archdeacon --■■"- . Bullock,, today issued a call to all „..,„,, within the Diocese to observe Sunday next, September 10, as a day of solemn supplication to Almighty .^ God. Prayers will be offered for -victory and for the establishment of /;:.-" true peace on earth. "Men of good will, both in our Home-, land and in France, as well as in other j t countries, have laboured nobly and ' "waited patiently in the hope that '■'^"'"reason and justice might prevail over --I.,...senseless pride and injustice," Arch- ..^•- deacon Bullock says. "The most cavil..^..Jing critic will be left this time witKout a shadow of evidence that he ■■•*"* otherwise might have brought against the efforts that we have breathlessly watched during the recent days to "'"•'■' snatch peace from the very jaws of hostility and bloodshed. "Mr. Chamberlain will go down in history as the statesman who worked longer and harder for concord among the nations than any other we have known. "Yet all has been unavailing. Prayers and effort have not served to .-..-stay the hand of the destroyer. And when humanity is called upon twice within twenty-five years; 'to wage a war to end war,' the cynic might well chortle while the, Christian man despairs. Yet it would be unchristian to despair. For precisely in so far as we are aiming at justice for all nations, we are labouring to achieve that difficult yet divine obj ective —God's peace among men. Just because we cannot but believe that our leaders have been cleari and fair in their demands, we shall feel ourselves sustained and encouraged by invincible strength in the struggle that looms before us. "OUR CAUSE JUST, OUR MOTIVE PURE." "There is one thing for which I thank God at this hour —as I am, sure you will. too. It has often been said that if war should break out, it would be impossible to disentangle the various motives on each side. The conflict of ideologies, and the activities of international finance and political oppor-, -...„ tunism, would make it impossible for ~M" us to be confronted with a clear issue in which we could give allegiance without scruple to one side or the other. To have found ourselves confused by such a medley of causes and slogans, would have been a disaster of the first order. For it would have robbed us of^all moral strength. Thank God He confounded some prophets and ' has delivered us from doubt and uncertainty. "Our strength will-be as the strength of ,ten because our cause is just and our motive pure. "But the price that must be paid for a just peace may invade all our homes and lives. When war begins no man can, see the end thereof. Of ourselves, in our strength alone, we shall be insufficient. "I therefore call all within the Diocese of Wellington to observe Sur> day next, September 10, as a day of solemn supplication to Almighty God. Special services will be helc| in all parishes, and I confidently invite all parishioners everywhere^ to meet to- .. gether, in God's House. And we shall .i'^pray, not merely for victory, but that '■* -through all our efforts, whether by '-""'force of arms, diplomacy, or through ■ -suffering, we may come at last to k«.-"'■■' -ue peace on earth."